🚀 go-pugleaf

KWEST, the Kitchener-Waterloo Eight Sixteen Thirty-two Atari user group,
holds its ST or 16-bit meeting on the second Wednesday of every month
in the DCS Course Room, Room 2009 which is on the 2nd floor 
of the Math & Computer Building at the University of Waterloo.
Room opens at 7:00 pm. Meeting starts at 7:30 pm.

The next meetings are Wednesday, July 10, August 14, and September 11, 1991.

The first meeting is free.
Membership is $15 a year and is a family membership.

Our freeware/shareware library currently has over 215 disks and each member
gets a catalog disk which can be traded in for an update.
We sell copies of the library disks and the Disk-of-the-Month for $2 each.

We also have a newsletter "The Hard Copy" (I'm the editor) and distribute
AtariUser free to our members.

Below is the topic of our next meeting.  August will be a Games/Library Night.

Dani Roloson
579-3695

----------------

Topic for ST meeting on Wednesday, July 10, 1991

TADS:  The Text Adventure Development System

From: Dani A. Roloson

If you're interested in creating Infocom-like text-only adventures on your home
computer, TADS is a great start.
The package does all the parsing and defines most of the common adventure
verbs and item types in editable include files.

TADS is a shareware object-oriented programming tool for the Atari ST,
Macintosh, and IBM PC Compatible (MS-DOS/PC-DOS) which is available from
High Energy Software, P.O. Box 50422, Palo Alto, CA 94303.
(Atari users can try out the version available from the KWEST library.)

For my $25 US, I got the TADS Author's Manual, a sample game, updated versions
of the include files and programs, and a tool for combining
the game runner and game into a single file.

I am pleased with the quality of the manual, the response to the question I
asked with my payment, and the complexity and flexibility that
the package allows.

I would like to get together with other TADS users even on different platforms
since a game written for the Atari can be compiled on all three systems.

Sample simple adventure:  
************************

  #include <adv.t>
  #include <std.t>

  fireVerb: deepverb
    verb = 'fire' 'shoot' 'blast'
    sdesc = "fire"
    doAction = 'Fire'
  ;

  /* This is where you start the game. */
  startroom: room
    sdesc = "Hallway"
    ldesc = "You are in the hallway.  There is an room to the east. "
    east = engineroom
  ;

  engineroom: room
    sdesc = "Engine Room"
    ldesc = "You are in the engine room.  The only exit is to the west. "
    west = startroom
  ;

  /* The engine can not be taken since it is a fixed item. */
  engine: fixeditem
    sdesc = "diesel engine"
    ldesc = "It's an old-fashioned diesel engine.  You can't imagine how it
      runs this spaceship. "
    location = engineroom
    noun = 'engine'
    adjective = 'diesel' 'old-fashioned' 'spaceship'
  ;

  /* The slime gun starts out in your possession. */
  slimegun: item
    shotsleft = 6
    sdesc = "slime gun"
    ldesc = "It's standard equipment in the Denebian Space Patrol. "
    location = Me
    noun = 'gun' 'pistol' 'blaster'
    adjective = 'slime' 'space' 'denebian'

    /* Don't allow the gun to be dropped. */
    /* ver = verify, do = direct object */
    verDoDrop( actor ) =
    {
      "You can't leave the gun here. ";
    }

    /* Allow the gun to be fired if you still have slime. */
    verDoFire( actor ) =
    {
      if ( self.shotsleft < 1 )
      {
        "No more slime left.";
      }
    } 
    doFire( actor ) =
    {
      /* Decrement number of shots left. */
      self.shotsleft := self.shotsleft - 1;
      /* If I'm not in the engine room */
      if ( Me.location <> engineroom )
      {
        "You get slime all over yourself.";
      }
      else
      {
        "The slime clogs up the engine and the spaceship explodes.";
        die();
      }
    }
  ;



Dani Roloson

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>From the TADS manual (please read carefully):

(Like all TADS limits, this can be changed at compile-time with user-specified
compiler options; of course, string space is also limited by the amount of
computer in your memory, which you unfortunately cannot change with compiler
options.